NATO’s creeping occupation of Ukraine

On the eve of the possible partition of Ukraine, the West seeks to stake out for itself as much as possible of its territory… The propagandist campaign that is permanently ongoing in the West concerning “Russian aggression” allegedly being preparing in the Baltic region reached its next peak in connection with the “West-2017” Russian-Belarusian military exercises planned for the autumn. Nevertheless the real scale of “reciprocal actions” of the NATO bloc on the northeast direction remains rather modest. Thus, for example, five countries of NATO (Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, the US, and Great Britain) that are taking part in the manoeuvers of units of antiaircraft defense Tobruq Legacy — 2017, which began on July 11th in Lithuania, sent to these maneuvers in total only 500 servicemen.

Approximately also the military-air presence of the alliance in this allegedly threatened region is designated in the same minimum level. The on-duty units of NATO fighter jets in Estonia serves not so much for the defence of air space of this country, but for the constant heating of winning topic of propaganda: interceptions over the Baltics of “aggressive-minded” Russian jets. And shuttle visits to the countries of the “cordon sanitaire” of the newest “stealth” fighter jet F-35, in the total number of one to two units, not so much frightens but creates a rather ambiguous impression about the condition of the American Air Force.

Such a limited scale of “reciprocal actions” of NATO isn’t surprising at all, because the command of the bloc knows very well the real condition of the Russian Armed Forces, the group of which in this border region doesn’t look at all offensive. Only one eloquent example suffices — units of the Air Force of the Russian Federation in the Baltics just this year received the first in the last twenty years Su-30SM fighter aircraft! And at the moment their number at the base in Chernyakhovsk reached a whole three units!

It is quite obvious that NATO members don’t believe in the possibility of the aggressive actions of Russia in this direction, and exploit this subject only for their own geopolitical and military-economic interests.

But if at the northeast borders of contact with Russia the West is limited to generally noisy PR actions, then on the southeast flank of the bloc another picture is principally observed. The military preparations of NATO in the territories that are directly adjoining the Ukrainian crisis repeatedly many-fold surpass in their scale the similar actions in the north. The military maneuvers of NATO “Saber Guardian 2017”, which began on July 11th, became the latest confirmation of this. They take place at the training grounds of three states — Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. And 25,000 military personnel from 25 countries participate in them! The Romanian media reported about “thousands of pieces of equipment” involved in the maneuvers, from which only Americans brought about 2,000 military and satellite machines. The press already calls these drills the largest in the history of this region. And indeed, the involvement of troops in such a scale was characteristic maybe only for the NATO strategic drills of “Reforger” during the period of the standoff with the Soviet Union. But the USSR ceased to exist long ago, and, moreover, the North Atlantic Alliance in the south even doesn’t have a common border with Russia, the traditional “aggression” of which could be used to write off a militaristic demonstration of such a scale.

The region of this large-scale military merrymakings is separated from the closest territory of the Russian Federation by hundreds of kilometers, and that’s why here there can’t even theoretically be talk about preparation for the repulsion of a Russian invasion. It is for certain that it is precisely for this reason that the western mass media prefer not to accent this delicate topic too much. It is difficult to intelligibly explain even to a gullible western commoner the reason for the concentration of tens of thousands of soldiers on the border with more-than-friendly-to-NATO Ukraine. As well as that fact that it is exactly in this region that the alliance takes measures for the expansion of the first large stationary units of “advanced basing” — in particular a joint mechanized brigade with a HQ in Romania. I’m not even speaking about the actual existence of an American military-naval base in the Romanian Constanta and the recent opening of the starting region of US missile defense in the region of Deveselu, which possesses, according to the Russian side, not only anti-missile, but also offensive and assault potential — these are facts of common knowledge.

However, this is not yet the full list. The military activity of the bloc in this direction becomes more and more cross-border in the direction of Ukraine. American troops already for a long time entrenched on Western Ukrainian territory, where they are allegedly involved in instructing the militants of the Kiev regime. Although even the local very-politically-correct press isn’t ashamed to mock this quite transparent pretext. And indeed what can the transatlantic GI teach the “Ukrainian army”, which have no notions about the specifics of war in Donbass, and constantly ask “trainees” themselves how they engage in combat there?

In reality, under this specious pretext, the American command established the practical uninterrupted acquaintance of its thousands of military personnel who on a rotational basis constantly replace each other, with a potential Ukrainian theatre of military operations. These strange “instructors” change each half a year and arrive, as a rule, as a part of the regular staff units — battalion tactical groups from the structure of infantry brigades of the US Army.

However, the appetite of the Pentagon isn’t at all limited to only Western Ukraine. The American military more and more often makes sorties to the Northern Black Sea Coast, which, after the US’ loss of the chance to be cemented on the Crimean peninsula, became for them an object of priority attention. Thus, for example, the American special operation members directly supervise the mountain infantry training of cadets of the Odessa Institute of Land Forces, and hold them field classes. But the operative exploration of the southwest corner of Ukraine with the center in Odessa is especially activiely carried out under the guise of international military exercises.

Thus, if to summarize everything above, the following is quite obvious. The real center of gravity of military efforts of the North Atlantic Alliance is focused not at all on the northern flank of its Eastern front, but strictly on the contrary — on the southern one. And the main objective of the military efforts made here without special publicity consists not in mythical defense against Russia, who isn’t present here at all, but in the creation of powerful strategic infrastructure for the cementing of control of the West over Ukraine for any option of the development of events in this country, with the aim that this control provides to the West the broadest and firmest presence in a number of key points of its territory, even in the event of the quite possible partition of Ukraine. In other words, the Western alliance slowly but surely follows its plan of further advancing to the east; of “gnawing” piece after piece of the primordial lands of Russian civilization and attaching them to itself via direct military control. And, in this sense, the infinite political talking shop at the various summits suits the West, as it de facto distracts public attention from that creeping “Drang nach Osten“, which was and remains the basis of its geopolitical strategy.